East Buffalo Drive-In

3725 E. Martin Luther King Boulevard,

Tampa,
FL33610

In researching the DI’s in the Bellefontaine, Ohio area that were built by Dale Elleman. He is listed has operating the Buffalo DI in Tampa, FL. I would think it is the same DI has the East Buffalo. Per the 1955-56 Theatre Catalog

Here a little information from someone who’s familiar with these three drive-ins. Hopefully this will clear up at least some of the mystery. According to a friend who was a former projectionist (and who worked for 3 years at one of these drive-ins) these three drive-ins were located in fairly close proximity to each other. I don’t have the physical addresses for each but the names were Columbus, 40th Street, and East Buffalo.

The Columbus and East Buffalo were both segregated black theatres. My friend worked at both the Columbus and the 40th Street. According to him the Columbus was located at 29th Street off of Columbus Drive. The lot itself was not near Columbus Drive but was actually two or three blocks south of Columbus at 29th. This is the drive-in where Interstate 4 today runs over the property.

The photo in the first aerial link provided above by NYozoner shows a 28th Street Drive-In which may or may not be the Columbus. My friend says there was never a 28th Street Drive-in in Tampa although St. Petersburg did have a 28th Street D/I. But since the Columbus was located at 29th Street this could very well be the Columbus. In looking at the aerial it’s hard to say for certain without seeing any identifying buildings or other landmarks.

The East Buffalo Drive-In was located on the south side of Martin Luther King Boulevard a couple blocks west of 40th Street. The photo in the second aerial link above is most definitely the 40th Street which was exclusively white. This drive-in was located on the north side of 7th Avenue (Broadway) at 40th Street.

@Andy: Drive-ins.com has a 1958 aerial of the 28th Street Drive-In, which apparently used to be where I-4 intersects 28th St.

E 12th Ave & N 28th St, Tampa, FL 33605 will map to just south of the location where the drive-in used to be. I would have liked to view a larger aerial photo with more surrounding features, in order to positively identify the location, but unfortunately Earth Explorer does not have the 1958 aerial set available.

There is another drive-in about 1 mile east of the 28th Street Drive-In, at E 10th Ave & N 42nd St, Tampa, FL 33605, which Drive-ins.com also has a 1958 aerial of. Using that aerial photo, I have been able to positively match up the location to the address, but I do not yet have a name for that particular drive-in. Drive-ins.com mentions 6th Avenue Drive-In as a possible name, but it would be nice for someone local to Tampa to confirm this.

Both drive-ins were short-lived inner city drive-ins which I am sure were advertised in the newspaper, and would have been open in the mid-late 1950s.

I’ve also heard of a 28th Street Drive-in in Tampa, not to be confused with the 28th Street in St. Petersburg. Of course, my source could’ve confused 28th Street with 38th Street. I cannot find anything on a Tampa 28th Street, but I have found miniscule bits of information on the East Buffalo/38th Street Drive-in.